Gate 9 Grille is with-it and borderline trendy

Sylvia LawlerSpecial to The Morning Call

There's a lot to like about the Gate 9 Grille at the (Allentown) Fairgrounds  most everything in fact.

The food is good and the price is right.

It's ''with-it'' and even borderline trendy under banks of exposed track ceiling lighting and walls of movie stills and celebrity posters, though maybe not what you'd call upscale since its ambiance and menu are those of a comfortable ''nabe.'' The bouncy staff is relentlessly welcoming to both exuberant young families and settled gray-haired couples, so cheerful and obliging they reminded us of counselors claiming their charges at summer camp.

The second notable is that it really is no longer R.J. Gator's, the darkish, nondescript bistro that last occupied the premises attached to the Main Gate Bar at the Fairgrounds. Nicer and brighter, the sprawling one-level, multi-roomed quarters pulse with dramatic makeover. The decor is appealing: walls and seats colored alternately in deep teal and a coral/salmon, booths attractively backed in a contrasting fabric, handsome wooden tables finished in a clear epoxy resin. Don't let the blue plastic Pepsi drinking glasses throw you service is attentive, not at all fast-food casual. An order for one appetizer brings extra plates and utensils to the table  unbidden. Clearly Gate 9 wants to get it right.

In various visits, we sampled the hot crab dip with toasted bread bites and a melted jack and cheddar topping  perhaps a trifle light on the lump crabmeat  wonderful onion rings, the real deal and not particulate matter; and very good Oriental pot stickers overflowing with shrimp, steamed and served in a tasty soy-ginger sauce.

One of the best Reuben sandwiches we've ever sampled got every component just right  toasted rye bread, corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and thousand island dressing mounted in perfect proportion. With it came a worthy peppery and chunky cole slaw and wonderful sweet potato fries. Falling-off-the-bone baby back ribs were delicious, paired with the same chunky cole slaw and, less successfully, baked beans that tasted  and I could be wrong  undoctored from a can. Fish and chips were beautifully golden fried, served with exceptionally meaty waffle fries and that cole slaw. A Cajun rib-eye steak was pinkly perfect, spicy and plate-filling, served with smashed potatoes and a nicer-than-usual summer medley of squash, zucchini and broccoli.

Gate 9's daily specials usually include entrees such as bourbon-marinated salmon, shrimp and crabmeat Alfredo or a seafood sampler of tilapia, shrimp and salmon. It has been hard for us to leave the main menu, though, since entrees, sandwiches, burgers, wraps and salads on the regular menu offer such good variety and to our taste, are made with a distinct difference. To take advantage of its Fairgrounds location, ''Dan's Famous Chicken Pie'' is offered ''straight from the Farmer's Market.'' There is a Southwest Cobb Salad that will be my next selection; also Cuban and pulled pork sandwiches, and what is billed as a ''real Philly cheese steak'' served with Cheese Whiz and sauteed onions.

Aside from a homemade Brownie served with clouds of ice cream and whipped cream in a large goblet, (which we noted as fairly flying out of the kitchen), desserts are not made on the premises. Yet since standards appear to be high here, we ordered dessert anyway, passing up creme brulee cheesecake and a Farmer's Market funnel cake for a luscious layered Lemon Mist cake and solidly constructed Kentucky bourbon-pecan pie.